The British Olympic Association has named a chartered accountant from a finance firm in Leeds for the marathon team at London 2012. Dave Webb, 30, was not even running in the London Marathon on Sunday and does not have the "A" qualifying standard but is eligible because of his 15th place finish in the world championships last year, when he ran 2hr 15min 48sec. He joins the former shoe salesman Scott Overall, already selected, on the Olympic team. Overall also skipped London but qualified for the Olympics when he finished fifth in the Berlin marathon. The women's squad looks in better health, with Claire Hallissey being named as the third team member alongside Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi.

Webb says he gets up at 6am each day to fit in a seven-mile training run before heading off to work. After nine hours in the office he then winds down in the evenings with another 15-mile run. The weekends, he says, are a little easier going – he confines himself to a single 25-mile run, and then spends the rest of his time catching up on his sleep. "It takes a lot of discipline, but fortunately my wife is a runner as well. That helps because it is challenging for the family at the weekend when they are wanting to do social things I am training and trying to recover."

A group of nine British runners had been competing to try to meet the 2hr 12min Olympic qualifying standard in the London Marathon. They even had Overall pacemaking for them to try to help them meet that mark but none of them managed it. Webb was watching the race at home with his fingers crossed. "It was a bit of a gamble but I felt to be in the best shape for the Olympics it was the best strategy," he said. "It was a nerve-racking day in front of the television, I was a little bit fidgety and kept getting up and down to make more cups of tea."

Jo Pavey had a similar experience, but was a lot less fortunate. Shewas the leading candidate for the third marathon spot on the women's team but decided not to run in the London Marathon. That backfired when Hallissey, 29, finished 11th in 2hr 27min 44sec. Hallissey lives in Arlington, Virginia, and took up marathon running while she was studying for a PhD in immunology from Bristol University, where she spent "most of my time chopping up tonsils".

Webb admitted that British men's marathon running was not "where we want to be" and that the team doesn't have "the strength in depth we have had in years gone by," but he feels "strides are being made and standards are starting to improve. Those guys that are out there are giving it their best." He certainly is. "When you want to shirk off, put your feet up and watch television, you have to tell yourself that if you're not out there training, someone else will be."